A Christmas Cookie Party Everyone Can Enjoy

It's that time of year again, with parties being held left and right for the holiday season. You're thinking about throwing an epic bash, but you're not quite sure how to plan a smooth, successful soirée. Throwing a party can be a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun. Here's one idea to make your December party a huge success! 

Cute invitations in the shape of Christmas cookies will get everyone excited for your party! Plus, receiving an RSVP gives you a good idea of how many people will show up, so you know how many cookies to bake. While you may think sending invitations via snail mail is outdated, people love receiving cute Christmas cards and holiday-themed invites to add more Christmas décor to their home. It takes more effort than an evite, but it's way more intimate. 

If you're planning on frosted cookies, make sure you make your icing ahead of time, so it has time to cool. Give your guests the option of white vanilla frosting, chocolate buttercream frosting, gingerbread frosting, or red frosting, and put them in separate containers for everyone to use.

Secret tip: If you wet the knife before you put it into the frosting, the frosting won't stick to the knife when you go to spread it on the cookie. 

Pre-baking your cookies is always a good idea if you're throwing a Christmas cookie party. It may seem like more work for you, but trying to coordinate oven times with everyone's raw cookies is going to turn into a mess and you'll be in charge of solving the problem. Bake up batches of gingerbread men, snowmen, Santas, and reindeer to put into separate containers, so your guests can select which cookies they want to decorate with ease.

Hot cocoa, apple cider, and gingerbread lattes are fantastic things to serve at a Christmas cookie party. If you're preparing a slow-cooker beverage, make sure to prepare these early in the morning so they can cook. If not, feel free to mix the drinks right before the party. Make a special batch of these for the adults to enjoy, but keep some virgin for the children to drink as well. Everyone will love your homemade Christmas-themed cocktails filled with holiday spirits!

Odds are, your party will last a few hours, so everyone is going to want to eat something other than cookies. Make some delicious appetizers or order pizzas, so everyone can enjoy more satisfying food and refrain from consuming all their handiwork.

Be smart about your setup. Make sure to put newspaper on the table and a tarp under the table to catch all of the excess cookie crumbs and sprinkles. Decorating parties get messy, so plan this party outside if it's available or the weather permits. If not, be sure every surface you use has a tarp or newspaper layer on it for an easy clean up.

Christmas music is vital to the success of your party. You need to have a Christmas playlist playing in the background to really spread the holiday cheer. You can make your own playlist with songs like "Jingle Bell Rock," "All I Want For Christmas Is You," and "Silent Night," or you can just put on the Christmas station on Pandora! 

If you're simply spreading melted butter on your cookies and decorating them with sprinkles, you'll want to have a wide range of sprinkle options. Colorful rainbow sprinkles, glistening white sprinkles, Christmas holly sprinkles, and chocolate sprinkles are just a few of the many options you should offer your guests. Chocolate sprinkles may just look like brown ones to you, but to a child they could make a strap to a pair of overalls a gingerbread man is wearing!

There's nothing that gets a child — or a child at heart — excited for Christmas like a visit from Santa! Have him make an appearance and let him taste some of the cookies. All of the children will love telling Santa what they want for Christmas, and he'll be sure to make your party more jolly. 

Let your guests take home their decorated Christmas cookies, but be sure to make this a simple process. You don't want everyone stealing your Tupperware, so prepare plastic baggies with cute ribbons so these party favors look pretty and elegant.